Death's (Extremely Irritating) Gift
by Mountain Sky
Summary: Well, I thought I died. Guess not?
1. Chapter 1

_I'm . . . where? _I take a deep breath, eyes peering up as I huddle closer to the wall. I shiver at the feeling of all the darkness around me and press myself as close to the wall as I can physically get. _Doesn't matter. Hide. Don't get caught. Hide. Hide, hide, hide hide hidehidehide._

I take a deep breath to calm my self, and slowly open my eyes. _Breathe._ I order myself. The foot steps keep stepping past me, and I take comfort in that fact. But then one pair stops. My breathing stills as my heart stutters. _My eyes are pressed shut_ I notice suddenly. _I'm just a pile of rags. Not alive. Not interesting. Just rags. There are boxes of rags all around me and piles, so I'm not out of place at all, just rags.  
_

Then the hands touch me, one on the back of my head, one on the side of my face, and suddenly _itdoesn'tmatteranymore_ and _I'mtieredtieredtieredsotiered._

_These are a woman's hands _I think absently, noting the softness and the delicate way my face is held. There are voices, but they're _sofaraway _and I let my eyes open slowly. It's black black black, so I close my eyes, noting that the talking had stopped in a corner of my mind. I'm blind. _Blind blind blind_ - The woman's hands tilt my had, and I follow the motion, my eyes opening again, and then -

_Pain pain pain PAIN PAIN PAIN! get out! no! NO! NO! NO! OUT OUT! GET OUT! _I'm shouting - shouting - shouting - and then I'm blinking as something touches my face and some of the words finally penetrate me.

_"He is worthy."_

I smile at this. I'm worthy. I'm broken - I know it - but I'm worthy of something. A camera clicks, my eyes still open, and I blink after I hear that automatically, but there is only blackness. Then the hands are gone and there are arms and suddenly I'm warm - was I cold before? - and I'm being carried and we're squeezing through a tube - Apparating.

"Minty!" a female voice calls and there is a loud crack.

"Yes Mistress Narcissa?" an eager voice calls. _Narcissa, pretty star,_ my mind giggles.

"Take this child to the bath and wash him throughly, refill the tub at least two times dear," the woman says, and I feel myself gently lain down. "And please try to find his name Minty. He's to be a master."

"Minty will do this!" the eager voice calls, and I feel myself start to float. "Thank you Mistress Narcissa!"

There's feet padding and I can hear the water running ahead of me faintly, before a door opens and the sound thunders. There's a click, and it stops, and I feel the humidity wafting towards me. There's another snap and I feel the rags I had been covered with fall away with a plop.

"Minty will do this she will!" Minty says, sounding determined. "Now into the tub little master, slowly slowly."

I feel the bath water warm on my skin and a sort of slimy coat that follows it up, the dirt clinging to my skin. Minty quickly gets to work, and my eyes blink open a few times, but mostly I just drift in the warmth - not too hot, not too cold - as Minty scrubs me, and I think she's done all of my body - just not my hair when the water swirls down the drain the first time, bringing with it the coat of slime. The water fills the tub again, and Minty starts on my hair, cheerfully chatting, and I listen to her, telling me all about the workings of the manor. "Malfoy Manor is very big little master, but its is good."

_Malfoy saved me. _I think thoughts slipping, the fear gone before it comes. I listen to her as she continues on about the house elves, seeming especially proud of one of her children that had managed a weak cleaning spell that morning.

"His name is Dobby, young master!" she says cheerfully.

I feel clean when Minty empties the tub, and I'm sure my skin is red, but it's wonderful. This time I can feel the water smoothing along me, and I sit there for a while waiting for Minty to do something, but I realise that it's my choice now. I slowly sit up, and my hands moves, fingers stretching as I copy something I say Harry do once.

_Minty, can you help me out?_ my fingers trace, and Minty squeals, and I let the words fade out as I feel her moving around, and the tub drains.

"Right this way Little master!" Minty says happily as I step out of the tub, and she helps me over to a chair in the darkness. "Now would you like help with your hair Little Master?"

I hesitate, but the unfamiliar weight of long hair helps, and I nod. Minty's hands are soft and gentle as she braids the long hair. I can hear her humming faintly, and I smile, the gentle tugs comforting. Then we're choosing clothing, me running my hand along the fabric, and her telling me the colors and advising me. All too soon, we're finished and she's leading me through the manor. I walk slowly, swaying slightly like my body wanted me to, dressed in a soft robe that was supposedly a rich red. When I had put it on, Minty had fallen silent for a moment before bursting into tears and declaring me beautiful.

I take a deep breath as Minty tells me that this is the room I am to meet the Malfoys.

I take a deep breath and step forward as the doors open. I can get through this. I may not be able to see, or really remember anything but my brothers name - _Oh Dennis -_ but I can do this. I can feel the eyes examining me as I enter, but I stand still.

* * *

Okay, this was just something I've always wanted to do, but something just started me on it again. It's always the main characters that go through time right? Well ha! Not here! This isn't really anything serious, I'm just going to do this when I get ideas. Please tell me if you like it!


	2. Chapter 2

"Child," a cool voice says, and I turn, my eyes trying to find the source. "Would you be willing to be a scion of the Malfoy Family, younger brother to Draco, son of Lucius and Narcissa?"

"I am willing," I say as Minty had instructed me.

"And would you take upon yourself the blood and responsibilities of this title?"

"I would."

"Then come child and state you name, or take the gift of a new one. The choice is yours," the cold voice says. I move towards the voice, and feeel a spark of magic come to guide my feet. When it stops I stop and bow my head.

"I would take the name you gift me with as my new father, in mind that I have been Colin," I say, extending my hand nervously. There is a moment of silence as my hand is gently grasped and I feel my blood swirling.

"Then from henceforth you are Nicholas Leo Malfoy, son to Lucius and Narcissa, younger brother to Draco. Your age decalres you twins, and as such, you were born on June 5th, 1980. Rise and be proud my son," Lucius says, and I blink as color floods back.

"I thank you father for this gift," I say, raising my head and seeing my new father, as instructed by Minty. There's a momentary silence before the sound of soft foot steps catches my attention and I turn. A young boy with wispy blonde hair and silver eyes holds out his hand.

"Hello, I'm Draco," he says. I can see a blonde woman behind him smiling at me.

"I'm Nicholas," I reply, shaking his hand. He smiles at me.

"That robe looks so much better on you than it did on me," Draco says as he looks at me. "I was too light for it, but that burgundy does well with your darker hair."

"Thanks!" I say.

"You're welcome," Draco replies. "Now come on! I want to show you your rooms, they're right next to mine!"

* * *

"Now this is your room!" Draco excl,aims happily as he opens the door to a room that looked as big as my old backyard, pulling me along.

I blink at the enourmous room in front of me, trying to ignore the part of me that was screaming _toobignowheretohide**TRAPPED**_ as I grab tight to the back of Draco's robes, trying to fight the instincts that I had been warring with ever since I realized how big this manor was. Draco blinks as my hold tightens as we step further into the room, making him look down before he looked back up and something I'm his eyes clicked, making him smile softly at me.

"I know it's your first day here and all Nico," Draco said, turning and uncurling my hands, forcing me to let go of his robes before putting my hands on the front of his robes, "But would it be alright if we do a sleep together instead?"

I swallow down the bump in my throat as I nod, fighting back the urge to bury my face in Draco's robes and cry. Draco's arms come up slowly, and one cautiously rests on the back of my head, tilting it forward as the other wraps around me.

"It's okay to cry," Draco says softly, if a little awkwardly as he rocked me back and fourth, letting my arms go around him. A part of my mind just kept wondering, _why is he doing this? Malfoy hates me!_ as a second part defends me, yelling at the first, _It's Darco, not Malfoy, and why would he hate us?, we're family!_

And Draco just held me, pulling us back so we could sit on the giant bed, my giant bed, and he rocked me letting me cry out my frustration and tears.

* * *

I'm not sure how long I cried, or when I stopped, but eventually I find myself just sitting there numb, my face buried in my (now) twin's shoulder as he rubbed my back. After a while, he looked up and called out softly, "Ethelred."

There's a soft pop behind me as Draco turns me so I'm sitting on his lap with his arms around my waist. I blink numbly at the black dressed elf who bowed to us. "What can Ethelred do for yous, Master and Master's Twin?"

"Well first off, you can stop calling me Master," Draco said with a huff as his arms tightened around my waist, giving me the feeling that if I wasn't there he would have been pouting at Ethelred with his arms crossed. "So has mother assigned him a house elf yet?

"No, Master, Lady said Master's Twin should choose his own elf," Ethelred replied with as sniff as he muttered under his breath, "She should know by now that we're the ones that do the choosing!"

"Well, let's go down and get an elf to choose us then!" Draco said with a grin, pushing me upright as he grabbed my hand before extending a hand to Ethelred. Ethelred looked at it for a moment before sighing and taking it.

"You are quite particular Master," he tells Draco before he snaps and we're _gone_, and then I'm stumbling as we're _there_ in a room filled with creatures Ethelred's size scurrying around.

Then one of them notices us and comes running over to us crying "Master Draco!"

This attracts the attention of a bunch of the others who gather around us even as the rest stream past, all of them crying "Master Draco!"

I watch, shivering slightly as Draco bends down to talk to one of the elves who squeaks excitedly before running off as the other elves groan before returning to the stream. As Draco stands up, I tug him closer.

"Why do I need an elf?" I ask him softly, and he turns to look at me.

"Well, everyone gets their own elf in the families that do have elves because it be rude to the elves to be constantly pulling them from their cooking and cleaning to attend to you. Also, usually the elf is assigned as a baby to nurse and stuff, but you obviously don't need that," Draco explained. We both look up as a bunch on elves come running up to us and bowing.

"Wes are all of the unassigned elves, Young Masters!" the elf in front squeaked excitedly. "We shall choose and be chosen now!"


End file.
